Clare Bacon wins corporate-backed Merit Scholarship

Gahanna Lincoln High School's Clare Bacon has received a corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship from the Nationwide Foundation.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the award last week.

Bacon, a class of 2013 graduate, plans to pursue a dual major in science and studio art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh or Miami University in Oxford.

She's the daughter of Patricia and Brian Bacon.

Most corporate-sponsored Merit Scholar designees of 2013 were announced by Merit in April; however, the award Bacon was chosen to receive became available after that announcement.

The sponsor Nationwide Foundation is an affiliate of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. It is a nonprofit charitable foundation established to assist in educational activities.

By the conclusion of the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program, approximately 8,000 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $35 million, will have been offered to distinguished high school seniors for college undergraduate study.

Approximately 1,000 of the awards, such as the one Bacon has won, are financed by about 200 companies, foundations, and other business organizations for National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists who meet their scholarship sponsors' criteria.

Corporate sponsors generally provide National Merit Scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, residents of communities the company serves, or have plans to pursue majors or careers the grantor wishes to encourage.

Winners are the candidates judged to have the strongest combination of academic skills and achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.